“Russian Volunteer Corps and Legion “Freedom of Russia” Clash with Russian Troops and Move Closer to Ukraine Border: ISW Report”

Fighters of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” and the Legion “Freedom of Russia” after a clash with Russian troops in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation could move closer to the border with Ukraine, suggests the American Institute for the Study of War.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW) в report for May 23

Details: On May 22, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and the Legion “Freedom of Russia” (LSR), in which the Russians are fighting for Ukraine, announced the “liberation” of several settlements of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation from Putin’s power.

Already on May 23, the Russian authorities announced the defeat of the RDK and LSR fighters, who are called “saboteurs” in Russia, and the completion of the “counter-terrorist” operation in the Belgorod region. Vladimir Putin decided not to hold an emergency meeting of the Russian Security Council.

Verbatim ISW: “Russian troops have likely driven the RDK and LSR forces back at least as far as the border settlement of Kozinka, and possibly beyond Russian territory as of May 23. Kozinka is located approximately 76 kilometers southeast of the city of Sumy.”

Details: Russian sources spread footage of Russian troops shelling the positions of RDK and LSR vehicles near the Kozinka border checkpoint at night and claimed that in the morning Russian troops recaptured Kozinka and the checkpoint.

Geolocation footage from Russian state media shows damaged and destroyed vehicles at the checkpoint.

Some Russian sources claimed that the RDK and LSR forces “dug in” in the church in Kozinka, but, according to preliminary data, “Russian servicemen probably pushed out the pro-Ukrainian troops from there in the evening.”

Russian sources claim that Russian forces began mopping up operations in Kozinka and Glotovo (east of Kozinka) on 23 May.

Geolocation footage released on Tuesday shows the aftermath of the shelling of Mount Podol (about 6km northwest of Kozinka) and Russian infantry patrolling between Grayvoron (about 7km northwest of Kozinka) and Mount Podol.

Verbatim ISW: “This indicates that the personnel of the RDC and LSR no longer occupy or never held positions in this settlement. However, it is not clear whether the RDC and LSR captured any settlements on May 22 or May 23.”

Details: Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces carried out raids across the border between Kharkiv and Belgorod on May 23, but ISW found no evidence that these raids took place.

According to the Legion “Freedom of Russia”, on May 23, the personnel of the LSR and the RDC continued to operate in the Belgorod region.

“Russian Volunteer Corps” in the evening also published in Telegram message: “A big request to convey to General Lapin, who is “in charge of the cleansing” that we are nearby and when we pull out the armored personnel carrier, we will definitely control the process.”

On the morning of May 24, the RDK showed undamaged MaxxPro armored personnel carriers.

This was preceded by: The New York Times learned from an unnamed Ukrainian official that not a single Ukrainian fighter entered Russia, and the units involved in the operation in the Belgorod region suffered losses that did not affect their combat effectiveness.